XXVIII.  Messala resumed his discourse:  The causes of the decay of eloquence are by no means difficult to be traced.  They are, I believe, well known to you, Maternus, and also to Secundus, not excepting my friend Aper.  It seems, however, that I am now, at your request, to unravel the business.  But there is no mystery in it.  We know that eloquence, with the rest of the polite arts, has lost its former lustre:  and yet, it is not a dearth of men, or a decay of talents, that has produced this fatal effect.  The true causes are, the dissipation of our young men, the inattention of parents, the ignorance of those who pretend to give instruction, and the total neglect of ancient discipline.  The mischief began at Rome, it has over-run all Italy, and is now, with rapid strides, spreading through the provinces.  The effects, however, are more visible at home, and therefore I shall confine myself to the reigning vices of the capital; vices that wither every virtue in the bud, and continue their baleful influence through every season of life.

But before I enter on the subject, it will not be useless to look back to the system of education that prevailed in former times, and to the strict discipline of our ancestors, in a point of so much moment as the formation of youth.  In the times to which I now refer, the son of every family was the legitimate offspring of a virtuous mother.  The infant, as soon as born, was not consigned to the mean dwelling of a hireling nurse [a], but was reared and cherished in the bosom of a tender parent.  To regulate all household affairs, and attend to her infant race, was, at that time, the glory of the female character.  A matron, related to the family, and distinguished by the purity of her life, was chosen to watch the progress of the tender mind.  In her presence not one indecent word was uttered; nothing was done against propriety and good manners.  The hours of study and serious employment were settled by her direction; and not only so, but even the diversions of the children were conducted with modest reserve and sanctity of manners.  Thus it was that Cornelia [b], the mother of the Gracchi, superintended the education of her illustrious issue.  It was thus that Aurelia [c] trained up Julius Caesar; and thus Atia [d] formed the mind of Augustus.  The consequence of this regular discipline was, that the young mind grew up in innocence, unstained by vice, unwarped by irregular passions, and, under that culture, received the seeds of science.  Whatever was the peculiar bias, whether to the military art, the study of the laws, or the profession of eloquence, that engrossed the whole attention, and the youth, thus directed, embraced the entire compass of one favourite science.